This year, the festival explores how Photography is used to share accounts of personal experiences related to conflict: The Recount of Conflict.

The festival is divided in three sections: Main Exhibitions, the shows produced and curated by the festival; Featured Exhibitions, selected relevant exhibitions that are produced and curated by other organisations; and the Open Programme, all the fringe exhibitions presented by individuals and organisations that add with their spontaneity to the festival flair.

The two Main Exhibitions this year are hosted at The Tara Building, a recently renovated space that now offers studio and shared co-working spaces. These are the first exhibitions to be held at The Tara Building since their launch.

On the ground floor gallery, visitors will enjoy for the first time in Ireland Clear of People, a project by Michal Iwanowski retracing his relative’s escape route from Soviet captivity, crossing over 2000 kilometres on their fugitive journey home in 1945. Michal Iwanowski will launch his photobook Clear of People at the opening of the exhibition. The book was designed by Tom Mrazauskas, and published by Brave Books.

Meanwhile, in the basement gallery, Steven Nestor presents Bellum et Pax, a new installation that gathers images from before, during, and after World War II purchased online, and attempts to rebuild their personal narratives to tell us more about how war and hate is taught and constructed during peaceful times.

The Recount of Conflict will present the works by artists focused on the disruption of the everyday life of individuals, families, communities, organisations, countries, etc. Whether dealing with ‘race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status’, established and emerging artists are brought together in this group show at Pallas Projects.

New Irish Works will bring to The Library Project in Temple Bar the works of Robert Mc Cormack & David Thomas Smith, 2 of the 20 selected artists selected for this ongoing project. Robert’s work looks at the information hidden in plain sight in some of the wealthiest neighbourhoods of London in Facade, while David Thomas follows up on his project Anthropocene with a reflection on satellite imagery and what it says about humanity in Arecibo.

PhotoIreland Festival and Cow House Studios present the second edition of How to Flatten a Mountain, a unique 12 days residency where artists are encouraged to develop a new project that will be exhibited during the festival at Rathfarnham Castle. The 12 artists that will participate in 2017 are Benedetta Casagrande, Kate Petley, Lauren Roeder, Mike Callaghan, Nathan Harris, Patricia Howard, Roisin White, Ruth Connolly, Val Patterson, Valéry Pelletier, Yinon Avior, and Zhao Qian. This promises to be an exciting exhibition!

The Marsh’s Library will host a PhotoIreland Festival exhibition for the first time this year. Tucked away behind St. Patrick’s Cathedral, this hidden jewel will showcase the works from an artist selected from our open call. Artists were invited to find out more about the Marsh’s Library, appreciate and engage with this specific space, and tease out associated themes like history, archives, libraries, literature, authorship, re-contextualisation and researched-based projects. The resulting exhibition will be announced on the 18th April.